Battle of Cantigny

The Battle of Cantigny (28 May 1918) was the first American battle and offensive of World War I, carried out by 4,000 US Army troops. The American general John J. Pershing, who resisted the integration of arriving American Expeditionary Forces divisions into the armies of the United Kingdom and France, sought to prove the mettle of the AEF soldiers, so he sent the 1st Infantry Division to wipe out a German salient on the front lines near Cantigny. After an hour-long artillery barrage, the 1st Infantry Division advanced across the no man's land, and the French Army provided trench mortars, tanks, flamethrowers, and air cover to the US troops during their assault. The Americans, despite suffering heavy losses, managed to break through enemy lines and push the Germans back, assuring the French that the American divisions could be trusted to hold the front lines near Paris against the impending German assault.